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#41
You're talking about a very broad subject but one which requires a little bit more knowledge than pressing a button in your browser to enable tracking protection. TF connects to five sources upon loading up, four of these are third-party. One is a CDN known for delivering content that can be used to track you. The other implements it's own CDN which often is used to collect vast amounts of data. 6 noticeable queries to me are sent out upon loading this very thread, most of them consistent with tracking in some form or another based on the nature and the connected domain. Others are scripts, others are DOM, most are XHR, images, CSS etc.
The bottom line is tracking is everywhere. The admin on this site no doubt utilises in some way or another analytics. Actually one domain connected upon loading up this page is Google Analytics. Google are known for tracking.
So the question is not how to eradicate tracking, because the chances are your fave websites use it. Their existence may actually depend on revenue they make from user data collection, in some form or another. And if you're not even aware of that you have no idea how systemic tracking really is. It is how to best understand it, be aware of it and then take the necessary educated steps to reduce it or take more hardcore means. This can often mean breaking functionality in websites and so you have to compromise somewhere down the line. But relying on a button conveniently placed won't do much in the grand scheme of things.
One approach is to configure your browser manually to be more restricted. An example of this being done really well is Tor Browser. Tor Browser runs on Firefox but on a SERIOUS diet. Compare Firefox to Tor and it's like looking at another planet. By default all browsers are privacy nightmares. Tor changes this by going to the core of the browser and changes how it interacts with the internet, and how things interact with it. They share LOTS of information by default. You can greatly reduce this by changing how it functions but it's fairly long winded and it takes some experience and knowledge to do without messing things up. You can also make your footprint on the internet EVEN BIGGER by detracting from the stock footprint of an out-of-the-box browser. The more you change things the more unique the footprint. If you're concerned about not standing out you have to balance your goals with whether you want to stick out like a sore thumb but be more protected and more private or have a much more default configured browser but have less of the former.
Extensions are also a good way to mitigate tracking among other things. I recommend;
HTTPS Everywhere, uBlock, uMatrix, NoScript, Ghostery, CanvasBlocker, CAD, Decentraleyes
Admittedly some of these extensions require a basic knowledge of how websites work ie what they are made up of. If you don't know what scripts are or how they impact how a website runs you'll have trouble when it comes to blocking them if necessary. Much of the tracking on the internet is possible through scripts. After a while you'll be able to identify known trackers by their domain name and then set global rules to block them. NoScript blocks a few by default, but not all.
By default just enabling CSS and images is a safe bet but even then most sites might break and not work properly.
uMatrix can be a pain to get used to but after you understand how it works can be invaluable for making specific granular changes as per each website you visit. For example on TF you can examine and modify how the page loads and what loads with the page ie scripts, XHR, frames etc. This is key in restricting the freedom websites have when it might be in your best interest to prevent them from doing things that could lead to outcomes you don't want ie sucking data up and sending it to third parties, connecting to other websites generally etc.. Using uBlock you can monitor activity between the browser and the website and see what is being loaded.
At a minimum I would recommend you at least set your browser to erase ALL history upon exit. A browser that does not remember anything has nothing to tell upon starting back up. And this is WHAT YOU WANT! This won't stop trackers from linking previous browsing history with current browsing history. Although you can mitigate this by always using a VPN and then any ties made are entirely superficial and not tied to your actual originating IP ie your home laptop for example. But this requires a habit that you won't break. All activity moving forward would need to be forwarded through the VPN. If you break this all previous history will be linked to the new history when you connected using the same IP address as before.
Much of your browsing habits will need to change as you'll be surprised how much data is gleaned through what you actually give websites. And so learning how to browse the internet privately and securely will be invaluable. Again pressing a button won't help with this. It's an education you need by learning about the environment you choose to spend time in ie when you use the internet in myriad different ways and how you are also responsible for how you can help make it better for yourself.
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